Carnival Conquest -- September 30, 2006

I too was on the Conquest this past week.  These are the details I was told.  (Realize of course that there was a lot of rumors circulating and this is what I believed happened.  I have talked to many people about this.  But most of the information is third hand.)
 
A couple was on the lido deck (9) "fighting."  Security was called.  It appears that the male was her boy friend and they were "fighting" because he had tryst with her daughter who was also on board.  They weren't fighting as much as he was trying to keep her from jumping.  When security arrives, they assumed the man was fighting the woman and pulled the man off.  The woman then jumped off the back of the ship.  (Security evidently called the bridge at this time and this is when they turned hard.  So hard that at least one pool flooded some cabins.  I was told that this was the procedure when someone jumps so that the ship would try to avoid the body in the prop.)
 
The woman did not make it in the water.  She landed in a cabin's balcony on deck 6  I did talk to some one who saw the blood and said there was lots of it.  My sister also talked to a lady next door and she said she had blood run in to her balcony.
 
The ship gave a vague description over the intercom (even killing the sound on the TV's) and asked any witnesses to call the purser.  They also called out a code when the event took place.  I believe they said the room number where the lady landed then "blue star".
 
The scheduled events went on without interruption.   (Which I believe they should.)


We were aboard the Conquest when the death occured and actually saw the woman's body on the balcony.  We were enroute to Deck 9 (Lido Deck) rear when the announcement came "Operation Bright Star Cabin 6547", then the ship made a sharp 90 degree turn, the water from the pool on back of the ship flooded the rear deck rapidly. As we entered the deck area, we heard a woman had jumped or fallen from Deck 10 off the back of the ship, but everyone thought she had gone overboard.  We immediately proceeded to the windows on the back of the deck area and looked down, where at that time we noticed a woman with dark hair and approximately in her late 30's or early 40's, who at first glance appeared to be lying on her back on the balcony, then we noticed the growing blood pool coming from the back of her head. I personally could not bear to look any longer, but my husband obsevered enough to see a ship's officer and photographer near her body.  Security and the ship's officers were able to close off ALL of the rear deck areas within about 10 to 15 minutes of the initial announcement.  The cruise staff seemed to have handled the situation with the utmost professional attitude at the time.




Oct. 1, 2006, 8:30PM

Woman dies from fall on cruise ship in Gulf

Associated Press

GALVESTON — A 48-year-old woman died from a fall on a cruise ship operated by Carnival Corp., the company said.

The woman, whose name was not released by the cruise line, was seen jumping from one of the ship's upper outside decks and landing on a cabin balcony today, the Miami-based company said in a news release.

The ship, called the Carnival Conquest, was concluding a seven-day Caribbean cruise that made stops in Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It returned to Galveston on Sunday.

The company said the woman was traveling with her spouse. Carnival did not provide any other details.

Cruise passenger John Bayer, of Purmela, said he could see the woman lying three levels below where he was on the ninth level. He said he did not see the woman's fall, which he said occurred about 3 p.m. as the ship was entering the Gulf of Mexico.

Carnival said it has notified authorities. The U.S. Coast Guard did not immediately return phone calls seeking details of its investigation.